Venice, Craig Huey's Just Not That Into You

Some dangerous Venetians listen to Craig Huey at a Venice debate

The race to replace Jane Harman in CA-36 is a crowded one, with 16 candidates vying to make it to the top two for a runoff on July 12th. But most of the media's focus has been on the top two Democratic contenders, Debra Bowen and Janice Hahn, and the top Republican contender, the mayor of Redondo Beach, Mike Gin.

Over the last couple of weeks, though, another candidate has been getting a lot of attention, Tea Party candidate Craig Huey. 

Even though he's been polling in the low single-digits, Mr. Huey, an evangelical marketing director living outside the district in Rolling Hills Estates, is getting a lot of attention for lending his campaign and eye-popping 500K.

Craig Huey, clearly in fear for his life.

We'd seen his campaign signs littering Venice for over a month, but it wasn't until a couple of weeks ago that Venetians got to see Huey up close and personal at a campaign debate co-hosted by the Venice and Mar Vista neighborhood councils.

Although it was certainly weird for the largely Democratic Whole Foods crowd to sit through spiels by the Republican candidates, Mr. Huey in particular wasn't shy about expressing his opinions, even using the classic Amway "power move" public speaking trick of taking the mike off the podium and speaking directly to the audience, the other candidates behind him.

Most listened with bewildered amusement, with an occasional raspberry thrown in at the mention of "Obamacare" or "socialized medicine".

Evidently, Mr. Huey saw things a bit differently.

Conservative candidate Craig Huey (R) was booed during his remarks at a recent candidates' forum in Venice. All contenders competing for Harman's seat addressed the crowd, which consisted primarily of liberals, progressives, and Hollywood-types. Huey says he was hissed and interrupted every time he spoke or tried to answer a question. And when asked about his stance on Israel, the crowd was outraged.

"The issue of Israel came up, and I talked about [how] there should be no compromise in our defense of Israel, no compromise in keeping the integrity of Jerusalem, not dividing it, [and] that it's the only true democracy in the Middle East," the conservative accounts. "I went on about Israel, [and] people thought that the audience would get violent."

The business owner and longtime political activist explains that roughly 50 percent of the Venice forum crowd support a liberal candidate who is anti-Israel. Consequently, Huey, his wife, and colleagues were fearful for his physical safety.

"At the very end, what basically happened was my wife and I went out towards the back, and the campaign managers of some of the other candidates came up to us and said, 'You better have security take you outside because it's just not safe for you to go out to your car by yourself," he explains.

 Craig Huey address a hostile Venice mob.